TJR: WWE NXT Halloween Havoc 2025 Preview

It’s WWE NXT Halloween Havoc with Ricky Saints facing Trick Williams, Jacy Jayne against Tatum Paxley, The Hardys in action against Darkstate, Zaria versus Blake Monroe, and more.

The Halloween Havoc PLE is back for the NXT brand. They used it last year and some other years, but it has also been a TV special. I like it as a PLE. Frankly, I think the main roster should use Halloween Havoc as a PLE and come up with some creative stipulations for matches. It’s not up to me, though.

This year’s Halloween Havoc PLE has a solid card from top to bottom, but I wouldn’t say there’s a match that jumps out at me. They set up some matches on NXT this past Tuesday because the build to Halloween Havoc also involved the NXT-TNA Showdown show a few weeks ago, which actually felt bigger than the Halloween Havoc PLE itself. I was hoping the NXT vs. TNA rivalry would continue into this PLE. Instead, that story was dropped after the Showdown episode, and now everything is fine again.

You can watch NXT Halloween Havoc on Saturday, October 25th, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, exclusively on Peacock in the United States and on Netflix internationally, for many of us internationally, including me in Canada. These NXT PLE shows usually go 2.5 hours or sometimes up to 3 hours.

===

Je’Von Evans & Leon Slater vs. Mr. Iguana & La Parka

They set this up on NXT TV with AAA’s Iguana and La Parka doing a promo to say they will be facing Evans and Slater. Since Iguana and Park are unique characters in outfits, they fit the Halloween theme. I was hoping that this would be Leon Slater defending the TNA X-Division Title against Je’Von Evans since their Bound for Glory match didn’t have a finish. I guess the thinking is to do the rematch on a TNA PLE, which makes sense for a TNA title.

The Evans/Slater team should be fun to watch as two 21-year-olds who are already very good pro wrestlers, and they have incredibly bright futures. I know Slater works for TNA, but I think he’s a guy who will be in WWE long term, just like Evans. Iguana is fun to watch and the fans get behind his comedy act while La Parka is solid too. It’s not the La Parka of WCW fame since he sadly passed away, but it’s a newer La Parka who is capable in the ring as well. This should be a win for Evans and Slater.

Winners: Je’Von Evans & Leon Slater

===

NXT Women’s North American Championship: Zaria vs. Blake Monroe

The story here is that the NXT Women’s Champion, Sol Ruca, has a knee injury and can’t wrestle at Halloween Havoc, so Zaria will step in to defend her title against Blake Monroe since Zaria is Sol’s best friend. There are a bunch of different ways they can go with this. If Sol is only going to be out for a month or two, then I’d have Zaria win this match, then keep the title and become a big egomaniac, thinking that she is the champion. That way, when Ruca is back in action, they can do the split with Zaria becoming the heel.

There are also some people who question whether Sol Ruca is legitimately injured or if it’s just some storyline. If it is a story, then maybe there will be a big swerve and Sol could be the one who goes heel. I don’t think that’s a smart move since she’s a great babyface, but in NXT, anything is possible.

I’m going with Blake Monroe winning when Sol Ruca tries to help Zaria, it ends up being a mistake, and Blake capitalizes to become the new champion.

Winner AND NEW NXT Women’s North American Champion: Blake Monroe

===

NXT Tag Team Championships Broken Rules Match: The Hardy Boyz – Matt & Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Darkstate (Any 2 of Dion Lennox, Osiris Griffin, Saquon Shugars & Cutler James)

A Broke Rules Match means anything goes, so it’s basically a No Holds Barred kind of match with weapons and fighting all around the arena. Based on the last NXT episode, it will be “Broken” Matt and “Brother Nero” Jeff, which I guess is okay since it’s Halloween time and they want to feature some unique characters on the show. Darkstate has lost some of the momentum they had since they’ve lost some matches, but as a group, they are still booked strongly.

This feels like a win for the Hardys, and if it’s not, then I’d be very surprised by that. The NXT tag team division isn’t as hot as it used to be, but hopefully the Hardys can help. I think OTM will get a big push in the coming weeks and months and be the next champions. For now, this should be a Hardy win.

Winners: The Hardy Boyz – Matt & Jeff Hardy

===

NXT North American Championship Day of the Dead Match: Ethan Page (c) vs. El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.

Since Wagner is the AAA Latin American Champion, it’s a matchup of midcard champions on the two brands. Page is doing a great job as the North American Champion, who has great matches all the time, and hopefully elevates a younger guy by losing the title to him. While Wagner is a solid all-around talent, I don’t see him getting the win here.

The Day of the Dead Match stipulation means it’s another “anything goes” type of match, so they’ll be using weapons throughout the match. If it were me, I’d put the Hardys match on first and then this match later in the show, but don’t put them beside eachother. Anyway, I doubt Page loses here. I think it’s more likely that Page loses to a younger guy like Myles Borne, which could happen before the end of the year. Page is a guy I want to see on the main roster, so I won’t be too sad when he loses this title.

Winner: Ethan Page

===

NXT Women’s Championship: Jacy Jayne (c) vs. Tatum Paxley

Jacy Jayne has done a pretty good job as champion and has her Fatal Influence allies helping her win matches, so that could definitely continue. Tatum Paxley has the “weird girl who is talented in the ring” gimmick going for her and the fans are getting behind her.

This may be the hardest match to predict in terms of a winner. I think it would be a good time for a title change and Paxley has paid her dues in NXT for the past four years without being pushed that much. However, with the way it was booked on NXT last week, Paxley was celebrating and posing with the NXT Title. I think when they book that, it’s the classic “look strong on TV, lose on PPV” theory, which isn’t as much of a thing as when Vince McMahon was booking shows. I’m going with Jayne retaining and maybe Paxley gets kicked out The Culling since she failed to win. Paxley is a face while the rest of The Culling are heels, so it’s not going to last that long anyway. Perhaps Paxley will be the next champion. I just don’t think it will be here.

Winner: Jacy Jayne

===

NXT Championship: Ricky Saints (c) vs. Trick Williams

This feels like a decent match, but it doesn’t have the feel of a big main event. Trick Williams is a former NXT Champion who has headlined many shows in the last few years. Trick also lost the TNA World Title to Mike Santana earlier this month, so he has credibility as a recent champion. However, I think the feud has been weak and just thrown together over the last couple of weeks.

When Ricky Saints beat Oba Femi at No Mercy last month, I certainly didn’t expect it. I thought it could have been booked better because all it took to beat Femi was a Tornado DDT. It just didn’t seem impactful enough to topple perhaps the most dominant NXT Champion ever. Since then, Femi has been off TV while I wonder if that’s because he’s going to the main roster, or perhaps he’s coming back to NXT after this match. I feel like that could be a possibility with Femi showing up after the match, coming back as a heel and beating the crap out of Saints to set up a rematch between them. Other than Ethan Page and Trick Williams, there aren’t that many main event-level heels in NXT now, so maybe that’s why Femi has been kept off TV.

I think Ricky Saints retaining the title here is a lock, but sometimes NXT surprises us, too. In this case, I would be shocked if Saints lost.

Winner: Ricky Saints

===

BONUS TOPICS FOR WWE NXT HALLOWEEN HAVOC

The Match I’m Looking Forward To The Most

Zaria vs. Sol Ruca – I’m interested to see how it is booked because story-wise, it is actually very interesting.

The Match I Care About The Least

Ethan Page vs. El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. – I’m a big Page fan. I just don’t find Wagner to be that interesting.

Longest Match

Ricky Saints vs. Trick Williams around 17 minutes.

Shortest Match

Jacy Jayne vs. Tatum Paxley around 10 minutes.

Excitement Level on a Scale of 1-10 (1 being low, 10 being high)

It’s a 7 out of 10. That’s what I have put for most NXT PLEs this year. The lineup is okay, but there really aren’t standout matches or matches where the outcome may surprise me. I think NXT needs some kind of spark to really make it more exciting because right now it’s a solid third WWE brand, and that’s fine. I just wish it were a bit more interesting.

I’ll be back with a review of the WWE NXT Halloween Havoc on TJRWrestling.net on Saturday. You can also tweet me on X/Twitter at @johnreport as well.

If you want to send an email, send it to me at [email protected]. Thanks for reading.